Fee rise for social work degrees ‘crazy’ says Stirling Griff
Key crossbench senator Stirling Griff attacks Morrison government plan for $14,500 fees for social work degrees.
Key Senate crossbencher Stirling Griff has labelled “crazy” the Morrison government’s plan to charge the top fee level of $14,500 a year for students studying degrees in social work.
Senator Griff, whose Centre Alliance party is critical to the government’s hopes of passing its university funding reforms in the Senate, said on Tuesday that it made no sense to increase the cost of social work degrees by 113 per cent from $6804 to $14,500 a year.
The funding changes, unveiled by Education Minister Dan Tehan last Friday, put social work up with law, business, economics, humanities and other society and culture degrees at the top fee level.
READ MORE: Social work course fees up 113% | Fee reforms ‘risk rush to humanities’ | STEM subjects disadvantaged | Radical shake-up for uni fees |
“It’s just crazy that they are bumping up the price of an area (social work) in which there is a shortage of people working in it. It makes no sense,” Senator Griff said.
He said there was “merit” in the government’s approach of promoting demand for courses in areas of job growth and community need.
“Social work is an area of community need which makes a mockery of the government statement of wanting to focus on areas of need,” he said.
Senator Griff said the Centre Alliance was still a long way from deciding how it voted on the Tehan package but had “grave concerns” about using prices differences between courses as a way to shift student demand.
He said that dramatic increases in the cost of courses was “not the right way of going about it”.
“Cost is a blunt instrument,” he said.
Securing support from the two Centre Alliance senators is critical for the government to pass legislation for the university funding reforms if they are opposed by Labor and the Greens.
Welfare sector leaders have attacked the plan to raise fees for social work degrees and Anglicare SA chief executive Peter Sandeman urged the Senate to block it.
“This is a very significant error of judgment which I would urge the Senate to correct,” he said.
Minister canes unis over effect of early offers
As year 12 students approach their final exams, one education minister is worried that early university offers have encouraged them to slack off.
Uni debacle was always going to get ugly
Our two oldest universities are both loudly left-wing campuses – they have activist staff and student groups where the party-line is settler-colonist theory – in which Israel as is has no right to exist.